


Open Again, My Home

by KrisseyCrystal (IceCreAMS)



Series: Fluff Bingo [14]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Drunken Shenanigans, Drunkenness, F/F, Fluff, Fluff Bingo!, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, I took creative liberties with ancient gem tech ok it's all a little contrived, Implied Bismuth/Pearl (Steven Universe), Infection, Kinda anyway, Post-Episode s05e29-32 Change Your Mind, Post-Series Pre-Movie, Probably around the time of unleash the light tbh, Spelunking, Virus, and silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:46:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23905633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/pseuds/KrisseyCrystal
Summary: The plan was to investigate some ancient gem ruins where a virus causing gems to act bizarrely is coming from without a single Crystal Gem themselves getting infected."Was" is the keyword, here.
Relationships: Bismuth/Pearl (Steven Universe)
Series: Fluff Bingo [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655521
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47
Collections: Writing Squad Fluff Bingo





	Open Again, My Home

Here’s the thing about exploring ancient gem ruins to assist an “infected” outpost gem colony on the fringes of gem-controlled space dealing with a problem caused by long-forgotten and time-corroded gem technology: if something in this abandoned temple is a potential threat to gemkind, then it is doubly threatening to humankind.

There are only two things keeping Pearl from completely freaking out: one, that Garnet has silently sworn that she won’t let go of Steven’s hand, and two, that Bismuth and Peridot--the only other two Crystal Gems who might know something about what they’re walking into--are with them.

“Whoa-ho-ho!” 

Steven’s laughter is infectious: bright and booming. It bounces up and down the crumbling stone walls, and it would be comforting; it would be wonderful to hear; it would probably make her smile, if it didn’t remind Pearl every five minutes that he is _here_ when he probably (no, definitely) should _not_ be.

Steven’s gloved hands run over a long banner of ancient gem glyphs carved into the stone. A thin cord of light runs along the border, where a red dot zips down its surface. It lights up the transparent bubble of Steven’s helmet and illuminates the stars in his eyes.

“This is so cool…!” he enthuses. The quiet crackle of his suit’s radio underplays the projection of his voice, but does nothing to hide his wonder. 

Bismuth scoffs and turns back to look at him. “You’re kidding me, right? That little emergency light-show’s nuthin’.”

“It _looks_ cool.”

Bismuth opens her mouth to answer, but Pearl elbows her and sends her a Look that dries up her words in the middle of her throat. Bismuth holds up her hands. She turns around. “Just sayin’. I can make cooler.”

“Really?!”

“Bismuth, we don’t have time to humor him,” Pearl sighs. The light from her gem swings right and left, carefully analyzing every tile before they step on it. “The longer we’re here, the longer we risk exposure to whatever it is that’s affecting the colony.”

“Not a colony.”

“Outpost.” Pearl’s face squeezes tight. “Right.” 

Bismuth watches her. They come to a stop, standing at the forefront of their traveling group. Peridot nearly runs into Bismuth, her eyes glued to the tablet she’s never without. Bismuth puts her hand on Peridot’s head and turns her to the left a few degrees. “You don’t have to be so stressed, Pearl. We’re gonna be fine. Tiny herself said this thing isn’t airborne.”

“It scientifically can’t be,” Peridot agrees, deftly stepping around Bismuth’s legs. “Our light-composed forms would be completely immune to it if it was.”

The hall ends in a T. A perpendicular, second hall stretches right and left. Peridot frowns and looks back down at her glowing screen. She swipes madly with her finger. Amethyst frowns, the epitome of boredom, as she peers over Peridot’s shoulder.

Pearl frowns and wraps her arms around herself. “Yes, I know that.”

“As far as I have been able to surmise, the virus is spread through direct contact with one’s gem.”

“Yes, I know, Peridot.”

“Besides, it’s not fatal to gems. It just makes us act strange.”

“I _know_.”

“Then relax?” Bismuth suggests. She looks Pearl’s rigid form up and down; there’s nothing but tension in her now. “We’re careful. We’re pro’s at fixing things for gem ex-colonies by this point. Besides, we ain’t gonna touch anything in here, Pearl. Peridot and her robonoids have got this covered.”

“I know. I _know._ ” Pearl sighs again. She holds her forehead in her hand. “I just--”

“--ah-ha!” Peridot cheers and with a dramatic pose, directs the group left. “The central maintenance hub should be this way!”

“Woo-hoo!” Steven cheers with both fists in the air.

Bismuth looks to Pearl again. Pearl gives her a small, pained smile, turning away. Amethyst squeezes beyond them to follow on Peridot’s heels with a quiet, faux-accented, “Excuse me.” Steven giggles behind them after Garnet quietly murmurs something.

Bismuth follows Pearl down the darkened corridor.

* * *

“Interesting…”

“Whatcha got, Peri?”

“The cave-in above those towers.” Peridot taps her screen and zooms in on the data her robonoids are rapidly inputting. The tiny green orbs crawl all over the corroded remains of the temple’s central mainframe. “This planet’s strange merqua must’ve corroded away the temple stone, causing the ceiling to collapse over a couple hundred years ago.” 

“Oh?” Amethyst pushes back the lock of her hair that wants to slip in front of her face. “Is, uh, that important to figuring out how to stop this virus?”

Peridot hums, tapping her finger against her chin. “Perhaps not. Unless determining how the virus came to be is our key to creating a cure.” 

Pearl tries maybe too hard not to appear like she’s listening in. She stands like a sentry next to Garnet as Garnet sits cross-legged on the floor, both lap and arms full of a slumbering, space-suited and self-proclaimed moon boy.

When Peridot begins pacing again, stepping away and continually reading her screen, murmuring nonsense under her breath, Amethyst groans. She flips her long, white mane over her face and drags her feet towards the others. “Ugh! This is so _boring_. I wish we had something to fight.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Garnet murmurs.

Amethyst flops onto her face at Garnet’s knee. Her hair cushions her fall.

Pearl smiles. Her hand curls over her mouth. When she looks to the mainframe again, she sees Bismuth looking at the cave-in. Her broad hands sit on her hips; her mouth is twisted in a way that does nothing to disquiet the anxiety rolling in Pearl’s gut. She puts a hand on the back of Steven’s helmet and then walks over.

“What is it, Bismuth?” 

Bismuth glances down at Pearl. “Aw, geez, Pearl. Promise me you’re not gonna flip?”

Pearl’s hands fist in front of her stomach. “Uh. If you tell me what that’s supposed to mean, I’ll think about it.”

Bismuth holds up a finger aimed at the ceiling cave-in. “That merqua is corrosive stuff, right? It ate right through the stone infrastructure of this temple. Course, it took time for that stone to break down, but that stuff’s been sitting here for how long? Centuries?”

“That’s what Peridot said.”

“It’s probably still eating away at this place,” Bismuth mumbles. “No wonder the tech’s all on the fritz. I ain’t ever seen anything like that merqua.”

Pearl lets out a deep and long exhale. 

Bismuth turns to her and offers a smile. “Hey, though. Nice job.”

“On what?”

“Not flipping out.”

Pearl’s laugh is too forceful to be genuine. She waves a hand. “Oh, Bismuth, I believe somehow I’ve fooled you if you think _this_ is any semblance of not freaking out.”

“You never did answer me. What’s got you worked up?”

“I--” Pearl stops and looks behind her, to Garnet and the boy curled into her shoulder. 

Bismuth nods before Pearl has to say another word. “Steven.”

 _“_ Steven,” Pearl sighs. “Look, I realize he’s in that suit and Peridot has assured me over and over again it should protect him, but if it rips and he somehow comes into contact with that merqua, or his gem gets in contact with this virus…”

“If _any_ of us come in contact with that merqua, really.” Bismuth’s face tightens. She scratches the back of her head. “I mean, you did hear me, right? That stuff’s corrosive. That…native liquid to this planet is literally eating through _rock_ and it can malfunction our technology. That’s not something I want anywhere near _any_ of us, human or gem or hybrid.”

“I know, but--”

“--Pearl, maybe for once you should stop bein’ so concerned about someone else, and spare some of that concern for yourself, too.”

Pearl blinks at Bismuth. She opens her mouth as if to say something, stops, and then asks instead, “What, do you think I’m _not_ concerned about my own--”

A shudder runs through the stone of the room as, instantaneously, a loud _crack_ booms loud as thunder.

Steven jerks awake, pulling himself up out of Garnet’s lap. “W-what was that?”

Garnet and Amethyst are on their feet half a second after him. 

“Peridot.” Garnet’s voice is low in both warning and question.

Peridot steps back from the towers and monitors. Her fingers hover over her tablet screen, but her eyes roam side-to-side, up-and-down across the chamber. Her gaze lands on the merqua, still steadily dripping down through the broken cracks.

“Uh. I think that was the temple,” Peridot mumbles. “That wasn’t the mainframe.”

Another shudder and a part of the floor _drops_ from under their feet.

It slants at a lopsided angle, the room jaggedly cracked two-thirds of the way across its expanse.

Caught in surprise, Bismuth nearly slips and falls. Pearl grabs her arm to keep her upright. Peridot crashes to the floor with a yelp and a skid until she sticks her heels into the crumbling stonework. Several dark towers, now on uneven ground, crash into one another like dominos. Robonoids squawk as they fall. Sparks sputter and fly, a mini-fireworks show in the dark. 

“Are you guys okay?!” Amethyst shouts. She stands square-shouldered in front of Garnet and Steven, on the slender portion of the room that didn’t lurch and tilt out of balance.

Bismuth dusts herself off. “Fine!” 

With careful steps, she inches down the floor’s new incline to reach Peridot. Peridot’s eyes are fixed on the gap between the central maintenance hub’s floor and the ceiling of the cavernous room beneath them. 

“W-we should get out of here,” Pearl says. “This isn’t safe. Peridot, you have enough data, right?”

Bismuth helps Peridot to her feet and then slowly, up to the other side of the room’s higher floor. Steven and Garnet hurry to extend their hands over the edge’s lip. 

Peridot nods, but it’s shaky. “Y-yeah. Wow. That was…something.”

“Yeah,” Bismuth laughs. As soon as Peridot’s on higher, more stable ground, she turns back for Pearl with a breathless smile: more nervous chuckles than anything else. “You can say that again. Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen a--”

The floor drops.

With a great, thundering _crack_ that rips asunder their stability, Pearl and Bismuth fall into open air.

Steven’s scream follows them down--

down--

down--

“ _Pearl! Bismuth!”_

It happens too fast.

Spinning and flapping her arms, Bismuth turns to find Pearl. She reaches out for the speck of white, glimmering teal, and darker blue that she thinks she can see in the middle of the falling temple stone and chunks of floor. Metal crashes behind them, groaning and sparking as it slams into the wall in a free, wild tumble just like them.

And then Bismuth hits the ground.

Earth craters under her. Chunks of floor pierce the ground on either side of her, falling in a dusty upwind. Bismuth coughs and ties to push herself up in the midst of the crashing debris, lifting her head to see if she can find Pearl.

She isn’t sure what it is that makes herself _poof_ : a fallen tower or a piece of what was once the floor--but she knows the instant it happens.

Because all she can think is: _shit._

* * *

Reforming is a surprising challenge and Bismuth doesn’t know how or why or what the heck is keeping her from taking shape until she physically forces the problem away for space to _be._ Once the glow of her form solidifies, she lands heavily on her knees. A ragged gasp later and Bismuth places a hand on the boulder that had been pinning her down (potentially the one that poofed her?) and pushes herself up to a stand.

“Overalls,” she murmurs. “Nice. I can dig it.”

A glance up and at the pile of broken floor surrounding her brings a grimace to her face. “Literally, I guess.”

After climbing out from under the fallen debris, it takes only a few moments to find Pearl. It takes Bismuth another second to recognize that something must be wrong. Pearl’s curled onto her side, fallen on top of broken and crumpled mainframe towers. She doesn’t seem to be injured. So why isn’t she getting up?

The word _cracked_ doesn’t even finish crossing her mind by the time Bismuth’s already started wobbly descending the rubble, arms outstretched. “Pearl! Answer me, Pearl! Are you okay?”

She doesn’t stir. 

Bismuth crashes to her knees beside her and rolls Pearl onto her back. “Pearl! Talk to me!”

And finally, Pearl…laughs?

It’s a laugh Bismuth has never heard, in all the thousands of years she’s known Pearl: high and dreamy, like she’s breathing through clouds and having a great time of it.

“Uh, Pearl?”

“Oh, Bismuth!” And it’s not like Pearl’s voice is particularly different. Maybe there’s a slight slur to her speech and strange saunter to the way she talks, but it shouldn’t be as alarming to Bismuth as it is. Probably. “There…you are. I was worried about you.”

“Uh, yeah. Back atcha.” 

Pearl hums and lifts a hand. At first, Bismuth thinks it’s coming for her face but then Pearl tosses her hand back above her head and it lands with an awkward _thud_ on the corner of the tower she’s stretched out on. Pearl giggles. Her shoulders shake, chest lifting up with the motion. She closes her eyes and her head sags towards Bismuth’s knee.

There’s a strange, goopy liquid trailing across her gem, dripping down her right temple and to the metal. Or maybe it came from the exposed innards of the tower? 

Oh.

“Aw, gee…” Bismuth swears a colorful storm under her breath. “Pearl, why?”

“Why what?” Pearl blinks slowly.

“Why’d ya have to go and land on the virus?”

“Well, ‘snot my fault. It’s not even on my list.”

Bismuth…tries to follow that line of thought. “Come again?”

“List! My list!” Pearl tosses her hand up again and it falls against Bismuth’s shoulder. Bismuth sighs and gets her hands under Pearl’s shoulder to lift her to her feet as she adds, “You know, the one Amethyst helped me get set up. She’s quite capable, you know. She knows so much more than I do. You know Steven’s been thinking about making a Little Homeworld?”

“Uh-huh.”

Bismuth gets them both standing by the time that she can hear a familiar voice shouting above their heads. She lifts her head to watch a familiar, gleaming pink bubble slowly waft down to them.

“Bismuth! Pearl!” Steven shouts, his voice strange and distant through his suit and bubble. The pink pops away as soon as he lands. “Are you guys all right? You sure fell a long way!”

“Steven, what the heck are you doin’ down here? Don’t tell me Garnet actually _let_ you--no, nuh-uh. Don’t touch her; she’s infected.” 

“But I’ve got a suit on! I can help! It’s not like I have a tear in this thing yet; I’ve been super careful and--” Steven brings up his hands to the level of his chest the instant Pearl rolls her head up to see him.

The smile stretching her face is far too wide and bright.

“Steven! You’re okay!” Pearl crows.

“Y-yeah. Uh. Hey, Pearl.”

Pearl takes a step away from Bismuth and wobbles. Immediately, Steven’s gloved hands latch around hers. Her slender knees shake under her as she bends over, elbows bow-legged outward. A giggle runs through her. “Oh, dear. This is a strange feeling.”

“What is?”

“Bops on your head.” Pearl says it so simply, so easily, like it should make sense. When Steven doesn’t answer, she continues, loosely waving a hand. “You know, that apple-falling thing. There were those fig snacks you always enjoyed when you were younger, but only the strawberry ones. Could never get you to eat blueberry until you were seven…”

Steven looks at Bismuth. Bismuth shrugs. “You remember how the other infected gems were acting in the colony?”

“Yeah. Like they were drunk.”

Bismuth makes a strained, odd face. She gestures to Pearl with both hands as Pearl straightens up to frown down at Steven.

“Steven. How do _you_ know how to identify drunken behavior?”

“Uh, well, you see, during our jam sessions, Jenny, Buck, Sour Cream, and Sadie sometimes--”

Bismuth steps in front of him, taking Pearl’s hands and pulling her away. Pearl stumbles into Bismuth’s chest and Bismuth takes extra care to make sure her head is turned away from her gem. “Okay! That’s enough. Let’s just focus on getting us all out of here and rejoining the others. The sooner we do, the sooner we can figure out how to get rid of this virus. Okay? Okay.” 

Steven’s booted footfalls behind her are rapid, twice as many for every single stride of Bismuth’s. “Oh! Wait! I know how to get out of here!”

Bismuth stops.

Pearl whips around to look at him. She smiles, nods, then turns to look at Bismuth, smug. “See? ‘Smy smart boy.”

Bismuth doesn’t know what to say to that. She looks over her shoulder to Steven instead. “You do?”

“Yeah! You think I would drop down here after you two without a plan?” he stops, seems to think better of his words, and immediately waves his hands. “Wait, don’t answer that. The others are making their way out of the temple, too. Peridot said she might have enough information to begin working on a cure. Besides, whatever other information she could have gotten is lost, now. So Garnet gave me a future vision kiss and we parted ways and now I know the way out of the temple!”

“Oh.” Bismuth blinks down at Steven.

Pearl grins and pokes Bismuth’s cheek. “You’re impressed.”

“What?”

“Say it. Tell ‘im you’re impressed.”

“What?” Bismuth repeats because her brain feels too full of doe-eyed _stupid_ with Pearl so close to her front that she can’t think of anything else to say. She shakes her head. “Course I’m impressed. This is Steven we’re talkin’ about, here. I’m always impressed with ‘im.”

“Aw, Bismuth!”

Bismuth smiles at the stars in Steven’s eyes and the warm flush in his cheeks. She shakes her head and wants to laugh out loud. Instead, she puts a hand on the back of Steven’s round, transparent helmet and ushers him ahead. “Yeah, yeah. All right. C’mon, then,” she says. “Lead the way, lil man.”

“You got it!”

* * *

“Oh my gosh. This is hilarious.”

“I know, right?”

“What’s funny?” Pearl looks back at the two pairs of expectant eyes gazing up at her. She smiles and waves back at them, wriggling all the fingers on her right hand.

Amethyst loses it. She clutches at her stomach and rolls onto her back, legs kicking into the air.

Steven laughs, too, but more so at how hard Amethyst is laughing than Pearl’s behavior itself. He grins and looks up at Pearl, who seems pleased at being the object of their humor, grinning airily at them both. 

“I mean, it’s kind of funny that I’ve never seen you this relaxed before, Pearl,” Steven hums, propping an elbow up on the couch cushion.

Peal has never slouched for as long as he’s known her. Now, her form is a lazy curve against the back of the couch with her thin legs kicked out before her. She folds her hands over her stomach, the absolute image of comfort. “You haven’t? Huh. Steven, you haven’t seen me like this before.”

“That’s what he just said, man.” Amethyst picks herself up the instant the front screen door of the beach house swings open and Bismuth strides in.

Like a switch has been flipped, Pearl’s face lights up. “Bismuth!”

“H-hey, Pearl. Again.” Bismuth chuckles and doesn’t know what to make of the quick glance Steven and Amethyst throw each other from opposite sides of Pearl. She clears her throat. “How’s she doin’?”

“‘Bout the same,” Steven answers honestly and Pearl makes a move as if to stand.

“Bismuth!” Pearl sings again. Her calf hits the corner of the coffee table and immediately, Amethyst and Steven are on their feet to grab either one of her arms. Pearl wobbles, before righting herself and giggling. “Oh, haha! Stars! Thank you. That would have been an embarr-arra-assing spill.”

Amethyst’s laugh starts in the back of her throat with a shocked, choking sound. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

Bismuth sighs and steps forward to take Pearl’s hand from Steven before Pearl can repeat herself. The corner of her mouth curls up in a humored smile aimed at Amethyst. “Stop it. She can’t help it; you know Pearl would be mortified.”

“Yeah, which is exactly why it’s hilarious.”

Bismuth rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “Anyway, Peridot sent me. She thinks she has an idea she wants to try. Steven, think could we borrow that bottle of Blue’s?”

“Of course!” Before Steven finishes talking, he’s bounding towards the bathroom.

Amethyst has to stifle another laugh behind her hand. “Pearl, what are you doing?”

Bismuth hadn’t even noticed Pearl’s index fingers poking into either side of her bicep as her glassy eyes are fixed on the way the steel-blue tone of Bismuth’s hue bends and warps under the pressure of her touch. Over and over again. Quickly, Pearl withdraws her hands, throwing them behind her own body with such force she nearly topples over. She giggles, her face ice blue, when Bismuth--again--catches her. “N-nothing! Sorry.”

Steven returns with the bottle outstretched. His eyes rake back and forth between Bismuth and Pearl. “Want me to come with?” 

“Oh! Oh!” Pearl bounces on the back of her heels and raises her hand up from Bismuth’s hold to her face. “Yes! Me too; me too! Count me in, Bismuth! Wherever you go, I’ll follow! I’m very good at that.” 

“Yeah,” Bismuth slowly and awkwardly laughs. “Sure. Why not. We’ll make it a party.” She looks to Amethyst and raises a brow. “You comin’ too?”

“You know it! I ain’t missin’ this!”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought…” Bismuth ruefully grins at the same time Pearl cheers.

* * *

Peridot’s string of machines and salvaged parts of the outpost temple’s mainframe towers make a curious amphitheater in the sand. Lapis watches idly, with her arms crossed over her chest, as Peridot runs back and forth between screens and data, huffing and hawing.

“Ugh!” Peridot cries, throwing her hands in the air. “This would be _so much better_ if I had any actual equipment!”

“Well,” Bismuth chimes, holding Pearl up so that she doesn’t sag onto the sand, “Pearl mentioned something about a Little Homeworld I think. Maybe that’ll help you get some, uh, whatever it is you’re wantin’, exactly.” 

“Hm? Bismuth, what did I say?” 

Amethyst snickers. Lapis Lazuli snorts, turning away.

Peridot spins around to them. “You’re back! Oh, good, good, good, good, good!” With outstretched hands, she makes grabbing motions towards the bottle Steven holds. To Steven’s surprise, she latches on to his arm instead, dragging him over to the biggest screen on display. “Okay, so I have a couple working theories and we’ll probably need to test all of them on Pearl…”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that!” Pearl chimes in. Then, she leans into Bismuth conspiratorially, “That’s what humans call a pair of people who go on _dates_.”

Bismuth feels her face burst into heat at the same time as laughter busts out of her. “I’m sorry?”

Lapis’ shoulders are shaking as Pearl continues, “You know what I’m talking about, Bismuth, right?”

“I don’t think I do.”

“Couples! A one plus another one! One plus two plus one plus one plus--”

“--how was I supposed to know a human thing like that?”

“Don’t you want to _be_ one?”

Bismuth doesn’t know what to say to that. She thinks she lost track of what it was Pearl was talking about. Or some part of her sorely wishes she did, anyway. “Uh. Pearl, you doin’ okay? Maybe we should sit down…”

“Perfect!” Peridot, fortunately, saves her. “Sit her down on this chair, Bismuth. We’re going to try a few different methods to see if we can combat this virus!”

Bismuth breathes a sigh of relief and pulls Pearl along to the plastic-white lawn chair that looks far too dirty and dusty to be sanitary. Pearl would throw a fit about being expected to sit in it if she were in her right head; thankfully, this Pearl lets Bismuth push her down against its flower-embossed backing without a fight.

Steven raises an eyebrow. “Uh, Peridot? That looks like something out of my dad’s old storage unit.”

“It probably is. I borrowed it from the car wash.”

“Huh.”

Peridot rubs her chin, looking at her glowing screens one final time. Finally, she sighs. “All right. I guess we’ll have to try Steven first.”

“Huh?” 

Peridot pushes a quarter-full box of latex gloves into Steven’s chest. “Here. Apply one and lick your hand, please.”

“Didn’t we try this at the outpost?”

“Yes, well, we’re trying it again!” Peridot throws her hands into the air. “Pearl, you’re going to have to look at us.” 

Perhaps for the first time in her entire life, Pearl whines. “But then I wouldn’t get to see Bismuth.”

“Oh, what a _travesty_.” Amethyst sighs dramatically and puts the back of her hand against her forehead. Lapis, now standing at her side, clutches at her stomach, pressing her lips together hard to keep from laughing.

Bismuth rolls her eyes, but with a good-natured grin, she steps around the old chair. “There. Now you can see me, right?” 

“Better.” And Pearl extends her hand.

Bismuth can _feel_ everyone else’s eyes on her. Her face blooms with heat. She turns around to the circle of an audience she has, all watching her and Pearl very, _very_ closely. “All right! That’s enough, you guys! Knock it off! We’re just friends,” she shouts as she takes Pearl’s slender hand in her own and squeezes it.

“Oh!” Lapis laughs loudly. “Sure! Because that’s what this is!”

“Just ‘friends.’” Amethyst curls her fingers into air-quotes and bends over, laughing. 

“Hey, Amethyst,” Lapis says through chuckles and chortles, extending her dangling hand. “Since we’re… _just friends_ …how about you hold my hand while I get treated for a virus?”

“Why, Lapis,” Amethyst answers, bowing over Lapis’ hand, “since we’re _such good friends_ , I’d be honored to!”

“Oh, Amethyst! Our friendship is just so integral to my feeling of safety and comfort!” 

Bismuth tries not to laugh, pushing a hand against her face.

Steven snickers and tries to stuff his laugh behind his own spit-slobbered hand, until Peridot grabs his wrist and pulls it away. She brings him to Pearl’s front and nods. Steven nods back, mouth pulled into a serious line, then slaps his palm over Pearl’s gem on her brow.

Pearl blinks. 

A shiver passes through her.

She giggles. “Wow…it’s been a while since you’ve needed to do that, Steven.” 

Peridot squints at her. Bismuth chuckles and moves as if to pull her hand away. “So, uh, okay. How’re you feelin’ now, Pearl?”

Pearl gasps softly. “Certainly not good enough for you to _leave_ me, Bismuth!” And the frown on her face is enough to make Peridot groan and for Bismuth to take her hand back with a quiet, “All right, all right, I’m sorry; I’m here,” that has Lapis and Amethyst snickering all over again behind her.

“It didn’t work!” Peridot huffs. When Steven opens his mouth, she holds up a hand. “Never mind. I know it didn’t work when we were at the gem outpost, either. It was worth a second try. Give me Blue’s Diamond’s bottle.”

Blue Diamond’s essence doesn’t work, either.

Peridot’s a grumbling mess. She pulls Steven and his still-gloved hand aside as Pearl looks up to Bismuth with wide eyes. “Bismuth, is there something wrong with me?”

“What?”

Pearl’s eyes begin to shine with tears, two gleaming, wet pools of baby blue. “The lacrimal essence. It should heal; why aren’t I better? One impossible right after another. Gems can’t get sick! Am I dreaming?”

“Uh…” Bismuth looks behind her to Lapis and Amethyst, but they aren’t even watching anymore. Instead, they are focused on dramatically recreating the scene between Bismuth and Pearl to their own knee-slapping hilarity.

Bismuth sighs and shrugs. “I mean, I guess you’re--”

“--what happens if I wake up?”

“Uh…”

Bismuth moves aside as Peridot comes forward with Steven’s hand again. In the center of his round palm, cushioned against the cool cyan of the disposable latex, is a swirling mix of glowing blue and neon pink. 

Bismuth has never seen anything like it.

It’s...remarkably pretty, actually.

Bismuth looks to Pearl and puts on her best, most encouraging smile. “Well, you’ll see me and I’ll be there to tell ya it’s not the end of the world. How’s that?”

Pearl blinks and that’s when Steven slaps his hand against her gem.

There’s a burst of sparkling light.

* * *

“Ugh, I’m _mortified_.”

“I knew you would be.”

“How could you let me say those things, Bismuth?”

“I had no idea what was gonna come out of your mouth!” Bismuth laughs and the entire stairway leading up to the beach house shakes with it. “None of us did! It was kinda wild, actually. Amethyst and Lapis got a big kick out of it. Steven, too, I think. Garnet was holding down the fort at the outpost, so she wasn’t there for some of it.”

Pearl groans and shoves her head in her hands. The setting sun casting Beach City in its warm, peach-pink hues should be calming, soothing. Instead, her gut is tying itself in ribbons over her own hazy memories. “They’re never going to let me live this down.”

“Probably not.”

“I’m so embarrassed…”

“Aw, hey,” Bismuth puts a hand on Pearl’s back. “I don’t know if you remember what I told you before Steven and Peridot fixed you, but…this ain’t the end of the world, Pearl. Amethyst, Lapis--we all understand that. It’s why everyone else is givin’ you your space as they fix-up the other infected gems at the outpost.”

When Pearl doesn’t answer and instead, only groans more, Bismuth laughs and wraps her arm around Pearl’s shoulders to bring her against her chest. “C’mere.”

“Bismuth…”

“Yeah, Pearl?”

“How are _you_ not embarrassed?” Pearl pulls away from Bismuth’s arms, slipping down to the step below to frown up at her. “I did so many things that unthinkingly put you in such… awkward situations the entire time. How are _you_ not embarrassed to be by me, right now? How can you look at me?”

Bismuth chuckles. She props her elbow up on her knee and sets her cheek against her loose fist, gazing down at Pearl. “I dunno. I thought it was cute.”

“C--” Pearl’s face flushes with ice. “--Bismuth!” she hisses. “We’re not in one of those anime Steven likes to watch! Cut that out!”

Bismuth laughs again, but it’s soft and fond. “No, not that kinda cute. I thought it was _good._ It was interesting seeing that side of you, the side of you that wasn’t afraid to ask for me to be there or for physical affirmations. The side that wasn’t afraid to put yourself and what you wanted first for once. Y’know?”

“Oh.”

“I liked it.” Bismuth shrugs a shoulder. 

“You did?”

Bismuth chuckles. “Yeah. I like _you,_ Pearl. Every side of you there is.” 

Slowly, Pearl smiles. After a moment, she tentatively leans against Bismuth’s knee, eyes on her face as if checking every second, every motion, every contact, was okay. But when Bismuth makes no move to stop her, she lets her cheek bunch up against the surface of Bismuth’s thigh.

The steel-blue tone of Bismuth’s hue bends and warps under the pressure of her touch.

“I like you, too, Bismuth.”

It is as soft and gentle as a thank you.

**Author's Note:**

> so an anon on Tumblr requested BisPearl + "Drunken Shenanigans" and now here we are 5k words later because I thought, "There's no canon way gems would get drunk," so i indiana jones'd it all to pin drunkenness on a corroded virus 
> 
> it's all a bit contrived but we're not here for intricate plot details. i hope.
> 
> as is my running gag with these fluff bingo! fills, the title of this one actually comes from TWO songs i was listening to as i wrote this so i mushed the two titles together. if you get a second and want some good jams, check out "open again eventually" by leah kardos and/or "on earth, my home" by garrison ulrich. 
> 
> if you want to [request your own fluff bingo prompt](https://krisseycrystal.tumblr.com/post/616706742211035136/rated-t-fandom-steven-universe-prompt-drunken), i am more than happy to deliver! i think i've got three prompts still open so hmu if that's ur cuppa tea. 
> 
> thanks for reading!!


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